Thera 14.1: Revata
Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Theragatha >> Thera(244):Revata Adapted from the Archaic Translation by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids. Note: 'C' in Pali text is pronounced as 'ch' as in 'China'. ---- Chapter XIV. Fourteen Verses =244. Revata= This Thera's verse has already been recorded in the first Chapter,1 where is incorporated the teaching to his sisters' sons to be mindful. Here are incorporated the verses he published during his life in the Monk’s order. This is the point of them: When he had won arahantship(enlightenment), he went from time to time with the great Theras, Sāriputta and the rest, to visit the Lord(Buddha), and after staying for a while, returned to the Acacia Wood, living in the bliss of fruition won and in the Sublime Moods.2 And thus he continued till he was an aged man. Going thus one day to visit the Buddha, he stayed not far from Sāvatthī in a forest. Now the police came round on the track of thieves. The thieves running by the Thera dropped their booty near him and ran. And the police, running up, arrested the Thera, dragged him before the king, and said: 'This, Lord, is the thief!' The king3 had him released, and asked him: 'Has your reverence committed this robbery or not?' Then the Thera, who had never from his birth done anything of the sort, taught the Path(Dhamma), by way of showing his incapacity for such an act, in these verses: ---- 645 Yadā ahaɱ pabbajito agārasmānagāriyaɱ,|| Nābhijānāmi saŋkappaɱ anariyaɱ dosasaɱhitaɱ.|| || 646 Ime haññantu vajjhantu dukkhaɱ pappontu pāṇino,|| Saŋkappaɱ nābhijānāmi imasmiɱ dīghamantare.|| || 647 Mettaɱ ca abhijānāmi appamāṇaɱ subhāvitaɱ,|| Anupubbaɱ paricitaɱ yathā buddhena desitaɱ.|| || 648 Asaɱhīraɱ asaɱkuppaɱ cittaɱ āmodayāmahaɱ,|| Brahmavihāraɱ bhavemi ānāpurisasevitaɱ.|| || 650 Avitakkaɱ samāpanno sammāsambuddhasāvako,|| Ariyena tuṇhībhāvena upeto hoti tāvade.|| || 651 Yathā'pi pabbato selo acalo suppatiṭṭhito,|| Evaɱ mohakkhayā bhakkhu pabbato'va na vedhati.|| || 652 Anaŋgaṇassa posassa niccaɱ sucigavesino,|| Vālaggamattaɱ pāpassa abbhamattaɱ va khāyati.|| || 653 Nagaraɱ yathā paccantaɱ guttaɱ santarabāhiraɱ,|| Evaɱ gepetha attānaɱ khaṇo vo mā upaccagā.|| || 654 Nābhinandāmi maraṇaɱ nibhinandāmi jīvitaɱ,|| Kālaɱ ca paṭikaŋkhāmi sampajānā patissato.|| || 655 Nābhinandāmi maraṇaɱ nābhinandāmi jīvitaɱ,|| Kālaɱ ca paṭikaŋkhāmi sampajāno patissato.|| || 656 Pariciṇṇo mayā satthā kataɱ buddhassa sāsanaɱ,|| Ohito garuko bhāro bhavanetti samūhatā.|| || 657 Yassa catthāya pabbajito agārasmānagāriyaɱ,|| So me attho anuppatto sabbasañño janakkhayo.|| || 658 Sampādethappamādena esā me anusāsanī,|| Handāhaɱ parinibbassaɱ vippamuttomhi sabbadhī' ti.|| || ---- 645'Since I went forth(for monkhood) from home to homeless life, Never have I harboured conscious wish or plan Un-Ariyan or linked with enmity. '646 Never mine the quest, all this long interval; - 'Let's cut down our fellow-creatures, let us kill, Let them be brought to pain and misery.'4 647 no, love I do avow, made infinite, Well trained, by orderly progression grown, Even as by the Buddha it is taught. 648 With all am I a friend, comrade to all, And to all creatures kind and merciful; A heart of compassion I cultivate, And ever in good will is my delight. 649 A heart that cannot drift or fluctuate I make my joy; the sentiments sublime That evil men do shun I cultivate. 650 whosoever has won to stage of ecstasy5 Beyond attention's range of ever changing sensual desires, He, follower of the Enlightened One Supreme, To Ariyan silence straightway did attain.6 651 Even as a mountain crag unshaken stands Sure-based, a Monk with illusions gone Like very mountain stands unwavering.7 652 The man of blameless life, who ever seeks For what is pure, did deem some trifling fault, That is no heavier than the tip of hair, Weighty as of the gravid cloud. 653 Even as a border city guarded well Within, without, so guard you well yourselves. See that the Moment pass not vainly by.8 654 281 With thought9 of death I become easy not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour Like any hireling who has done his task. 655 With thought of death I become easy not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour With mind discerning and with full meditative attentiveness 656 The Lord(Buddha) has my loyalty and love, And all the Buddha's teaching has been done. Low have I laid the heavy load I was having, Cause for rebirth is found in me no more. 657 The Good for which I gave the world farewell, And left the home to lead the homeless life, That highest Good have I accomplished, And every bond and chain is destroyed. 658 Work out your good with zeal and earnestness: This is my last commandment unto you.10 For lo! now shall I wholly pass away, To me comes absolute enfranchisement.11 ---- 1 XLII. Revata is a brother of Sāriputta, and hence a brother of Upasena (CCXXXVIII.) and of Cunda (CXXXI.). The summary reference is in Dhammapāla's own words. 2 See verse 286, n. 3 Pasenadi(Prasenajit), King of Kosala, was a warm lay-adherent, and was alive in the Buddha's last years (Majjh., ii. 124). Cf. the similar episode, with a very different judge, on p. 109. 4 Cf. XLVIII.; CCXL., verse 603. 5 - verses 999 ff. in his brother's poem. 6 Namely, in the second stage of Jhāna (Commentary). The Commentary cites Majjh. Nik., i. 161. Cf. Saɱy. Nik., ii. 273. 7 See CXLVI. and preceding Ps., verse 643. 8 Cf. verses 231, 403, and Sisters, verse 5, and note. Here the Commenitary pertinently adds being born in the 'Middle Country' (p. 107) to the great 'conjuncture.' 9 = verses 606, 607, 604, 605. 10 Cf. the Buddha's last words (Dialogues, ii. 173), and Sāriputta's, below, verse 1017. 11 The Chronicle relates that he then and there passed away-lit., 'became extinguished' - like a flame going out. There is no 'passing hence' in the Pali term paritnibissaɱ, as originally conceived. ----